In higher eucaryotic cells, the interaction between receptors and ligands (e.g., hormones) is of central importance in the transmission of and response to a variety of extracellular signals. It is generally accepted that hormones and growth factors elicit their biological functions by binding to specific recognition sites (receptors) in the plasma membranes of their target cells. Upon ligand binding, a receptor undergoes a conformational change, triggering secondary cellular responses that result in the activation or inhibition of intracellular processes. The stimulation or blockade of such an interaction by pharmacological means has important therapeutic implications for a wide variety of illnesses.
Ligands fall into two classes: those that have stimulatory activity, termed agonists; and those that block the effects elicited by the original ligands, termed antagonists. The discovery of agonists that differ in structure and composition from the original ligand may be medically useful. In particular, agonists that are smaller than the original ligand may be especially useful. The bioavailability of these smaller agonists may be greater than that of the original ligand. This may be of particular importance for topical applications and for instances when diffusion of the agonist to its target sites is inhibited by poor circulation. Agonists may also have slightly different spectra of biological activity and/or different potencies, allowing them to be used in very specific situations. Agonists that are smaller and chemically simpler than the native ligand may be produced in greater quantity and at lower cost. The identification of antagonists which specifically block, for example, growth factor receptors has important pharmaceutical applications. Antagonists that block receptors against the action of endogenous, native ligand may be used as therapeutic agents for conditions including atherosclerosis, autocrine tumors, fibroplasia and keloid formation.
The discovery of new ligands that may be used in pharmaceutical applications has centered around designing compounds by chemical modification, complete synthesis, and screening potential ligands by complex and costly screening procedures. The process of designing a new ligand usually begins with the alteration of the structure of the original effector molecule. If the original effector molecule is known to be chemically simple, for example, a catecholamine or prostaglandin, the task is relatively straightforward. However, if the ligand is structurally complex, for example, a peptide hormone or a growth factor, finding a molecule which is functionally equivalent to the original ligand becomes extremely difficult.
Currently, potential ligands are screened using radioligand binding methods (Lefkowitz et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 60: 703-709, 1974; Aurbach et al., Science 186: 1223-1225, 1974; Atlas et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 71: 4246-4248, 1974). Potential ligands can be directly assayed by binding the radiolabeled compounds to responsive cells, to the membrane fractions of disrupted cells, or to solubilized receptors. Alternatively, potential ligands may be screened by their ability to compete with a known labeled ligand for cell surface receptors.
The success of these procedures depends on the availability of reproducibly high quality preparations of membrane fractions or receptor molecules, as well as the isolation of responsive cell lines. The preparation of membrane fractions and soluble receptor molecules involves extensive manipulations and complex purification steps. The isolation of membrane fractions requires gentle manipulation of the preparation, a procedure which does not lend itself to commercial production. It is very difficult to maintain high biological activity and biochemical purity of receptors when they are purified by classical protein chemistry methods. Receptors, being integral membrane proteins, require cumbersome purification procedures, which include the use of detergents and other solvents that interfere with their biological activity. The use of these membrane preparations in ligand binding assays typically results in low reproducibility due to the variability of the membrane preparations.
As noted above, ligand binding assays require the isolation of responsive cell lines. Often, only a limited subset of cells is responsive to a particular agent, and such cells may be responsive only under certain conditions. In addition, these cells may be difficult to grow in culture or may possess a low number of receptors. Currently available cell types responsive to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), for example, contain only a low number (up to 4.times.10.sup.5 ; see Bowen-Pope and Ross, J. Biol. Chem. 257: 5161-5171, 1982) of receptors per cell, thus requiring large numbers of cells to assay PDGF analogs or antagonists.
Presently, only a few naturally-occurring secreted receptors, for example, the interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2-R) have been identified. Rubin et al. (J. Immun. 135: 3172-3177, 1985) have reported the release of large quantities of IL-2-R into the culture medium of activated T-cell lines. Bailon et al. (Bio/Technology 5: 1195-1198, 1987) have reported the use of a matrix-bound interleukin-2 receptor to purify recombinant interleukin-2.
Three other receptors have been secreted from mammalian cells. The insulin receptor (Ellis et al., J. Cell Biol. 150: 14a, 1987), the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein cellular receptor CD4 (Smith et al., Science 238: 1704-1707, 1987), the murine IL-7 receptor (Cell 60: 941-951, 1990) and the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (Livneh et al., J. Biol. Chem. 261: 12490-12497, 1986) have been secreted from mammalian cells using truncated cDNAs that encode portions of the extracellular domains.
Naturally-occurring, secreted receptors have not been widely identified, and there have been only a limited number of reports of secreted recombinant receptors. Secreted receptors may be used in a variety of assays, which include assays to determine the presence of ligand in biological fluids and assays to screen for potential agonists and antagonists. Current methods for ligand screening and ligand/receptor binding assays have been limited to those using preparations of whole cells or cell membranes for as a source for receptor molecules. The low reproducibility and high cost of producing such preparations does not lend itself to commercial production. There is therefore a need in the art for a method of producing secreted receptors. There is a further need in the art for an assay system that permits high volume screening of compounds that may act on higher eucaryotic cells via specific surface receptors. This assay system should be rapid, inexpensive and adaptable to high volume screening. The present invention discloses such a method and assay system, and further provides other related advantages.